The planning application for 'Flintoff Towers' has gone in to Manchester City Council.

We want to ask Manchester City Council to take our concerns on the suitability of the design of this planning application seriously and reject it pending a re design taking in to consideration the needs of our community and the special character of the area.

The plans include a 10 story red brick block utilising the full footprint of the site and built up to the pavement, and a 35 story glass block next to it. The two buildings do not blend together, nor do they compliment the surrounding buildings which include the beautiful Grade II listed St Georges Church. This has been met with concern from Historic England.

The development is planned for a patch of land in a residential part of HULME, which is sadly classed as City Centre for the purposes of planning. The planning application focuses on the location's proximity to the city, rather than the type of area which is residential, low rise and not a central business district (and outside of the city centre border which is delineated by Mancunian Way).

As a local community group, the Britannia Basin Community Forum are seeking support for our objections because:

- The plans constitute an over development of the site, 400 new apartments and only 2 of them are 3 bedroom. This is despite MCC setting out that they intend to encourage families to live and stay in the city.

- The smaller building is all a PRS (Private Rental Scheme), and includes roof gardens, allotments etc, how many people renting will use an allotment? So many rented flats will not encourage community, more likely a transient population. This is entirely against the work we are doing to build a happier, safer and more connected community.

- The site is positioned on a road which is a dead end, access is already an issue and the addition of 600-800 new residents will further compound this.

- There has not been significant research to underpin understanding of access, refuse collection, access for vehicles to other buildings.

- The route identified for access during the building work is not feasible and shows a lack of research and attention to detail. This is particularly apparent” given that one year of roadworks are about to start on the main arterial roads (Chester Road and Mancunian Way) that have been earmarked as the access points for the site.

- The road network cannot cope with the increased traffic, as the roads surrounding (Chester Road, Mancunian Way and Regent Road) are already very congested for most of the day.

- The scale and massing of this development will make the roads more dangerous, there is no refuge area for pedestrians in case of a vehicle mounting the kerb (something which has happened more than once in the last 3 months) because the design is built right up to the pavement.

- The site borders other residential blocks, many of which will loose their only source of light as a result.

- The plans do not include sufficient amenities for residents, despite the brief for the design seeking to improve the area for local people.

- The plans remove valuable green space and trees, and seek to replace these in other areas of the city, to the detriment of the community.

- The developers have consulted the local community, but freely admit that they have not changed anything.

- The site provides access to the canal and such a large, dark block will make the street narrow and feel dangerous.

- There are too many developments happening in this area at once, causing issues for the immediate neighbourhood and the rest of Hulme due to parking and traffic as well as road safety.